1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a sheet manufacturing apparatus and a defibrating unit.
2. Related Art
A process (disintegrating process), where a material which is a raw material is changed into fiber before the process of being changed into sheets, is typically performed in the field of sheet manufacturing. A wet system which uses a large amount of water is currently mainstream as the disintegrating process. Accordingly, processes such as water removal and drying are necessary after the sheets are formed. In addition, it is difficult to reduce the size of a sheet manufacturing apparatus since a large amount of equipment for installations for water, electrical power, water discharge, and the like are necessary. As a result, it is difficult to respond to current demands for energy saving, protecting the environment, and the like.
As a sheet manufacturing method to replace the manufacturing method in the prior art as above, there are expectations for a method which uses very little or no water which is referred to as a dry type, but a technique for manufacturing completely with a dry type, from raw materials to sheets as the final product, has not yet been sufficiently established in the manufacturing of sheets at the current point in time. Here, disintegrating raw materials such as used paper or pulp using a dry type is typically referred to as defibrating.
A defibrating apparatus with a system where a flow of air is generated by rotating a rotating unit and defibration object is transported using the flow of air is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-144819.
In the defibrating apparatus, for example, (small pieces of) paper as the defibration object is gradually defibrated and changed into fibers. As a result, it is necessary that different substances are transferred at the input port side and the output port side of the defibrating apparatus. However, in the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-144819, there is a concern that transfer problems will be generated in a defibrating unit with a system where the defibration object is transported by relying on only the flow of air which is generated by rotating of the rotating unit.